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Private schools perpetuate a sense of social apartheid, suggests the latest NCSR survey. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod for the Guardian Private education perpetuates a form of "social apartheid" and has given rise to a political class drawn from a "segregated elite" that does not understand or share the views of most people, the annual British social attitudes survey warns on Wednesday.The study, by the National Centre for Social Research (NCSR), which surveys a representative sample of more than 3,300 people annually, also found that televised debates during the elections failed to enthuse voters, that the NHS is record... full article »

Exam boards face commercial pressures that force them to compete for schools' custom. Photograph: Rex Features Politicians used uncompromising language about England's exam system in the wake of the investigation into exam tip-offs. Michael Gove called the system "discredited" while Labour's education spokesman Stephen Twigg spoke of "a culture of corruption".That language sets the tone for significant reform of a system that has changed dramatically since universities set the first public examinations in the 19th century. A marketplace in exams has been created alongside a dramatic expansion of testing in schools �... full article »

Alex Morrison introduced generations of Glasgow students to the earliest inhabitants of Scotland My former colleague Alex Morrison was a key figure in the development of archaeology at the University of Glasgow and central to establishing the value of rural settlement studies in Scottish archaeology – particularly the study of Highland crofting culture. At the start of his career, the material remains of Gaelic society tended to be dismissed as mere "folk studies" by academics, but are now recognised as a central feature of the Scottish national narrative.Born in Stevenston, Ayrshire, Alex left school at... full article »

Apprenticeships are vital - and much more popular in the north than anywhere else. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian This article was amended on 8 December 2011 after the Association of Accounting Technicians corrected its press release. The original said that 70% of all apprenticeship take-ups in the UK were in the north. In fact the research showed that young adults in the north of England are 70% more likely to take on apprenticeships than young adults in the south. See also fourth and fifth comments in thread. Many apologies.The European Union debated the importance of regional solutions to the economic ... full article »

Michael Gove has ordered an inquiry over claims that examiners are giving teachers advice on what questions their pupils should expect in exams. Photograph: Olivia Harris/Reuters Education secretary Michael Gove has ordered an inquiry into a claim that examiners are giving teachers advice on what questions their pupils should expect in GCSE and A-level papers.Some examiners are giving detailed advice so that schools can focus on teaching to the test rather than covering the entire syllabus, an investigation had found. Teachers attending exam board seminars get precise information about what areas will be examined, ac... full article »

The aftermath of the student protest against tuition fees, which resulted in damage to Millbank Tower. Photograph: Fernanda Nalin for the Guardian The night before 30 November, I considered joining the rally in central London. I hadn't been on a protest since being arrested last year at the student protest at Millbank. I was one of the last people to enter the building that day, and I was curious: my passion for nonviolent direct action and a journalistic nose made me go in. We took the lift to the roof, I filmed and tweeted away, and after 10 minutes decided that it was probably best to leave. By then, however, the ... full article »

A pupil fills in a multiple choice exam paper Photograph: Alamy New schools, by increasing choice, force existing schools to "raise their game".That's the argument made by Michael Gove in defence of free schools. But increasing choice only raises standards for all pupils if everyone can exercise their choice. Otherwise you have a situation where, as the judge remarked: "In England, justice is open to all - like the Ritz hotel."That's where the state can flex its financial muscle to even up choice.As David Willetts put it when he was shadow education secretary: "If a parent's request for their child to get to the sch... full article »

Education Secretary, Michael Gove, has admitted that current ICT teaching in schools is out of date. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Education secretary Michael Gove has acknowledged that current ICT teaching in schools is out of date and that computer science has a place in secondary education. Speaking to a group of young reporters at the Schools Network's national conference last week, he stated, "One of the problems we've had is that the ICT curriculum in the past has been written for a subject that is changing all the time. I think that what we should have is computer science in the future – and how ... full article »

Aave atque vale: Charlotte Higgins and friend at the Steel Rigg end of the walk, Hadrian's Wall. Photograph: Mark Pinder By the time you read this, I shall be starting four months' leave in order to complete my next book, about Roman Britain. I will be back in the paper and on guardian.co.uk – with a vengeance, as they say – after Easter. During that time, the delightful Alex Needham, editor of the the culture website, will be crossing the divide for four months to join Mark Brown and Maev Kennedy in covering arts news; he'll also be keeping the home fires burning on this blog. Until then, ave atque vale, as we R... full article »

The WJEC is on of five main exam boards for GCSEs and A-levels; the others are AQA, OCR, Edexcel and CCEA. Photograph: Rex Features The WJEC, the Welsh Joint Education Committee, is one of five main exam boards for GCSEs and A-levels.Although it is based in Wales and offers Welsh-language exams, the majority of its papers are sat in English schools: 5,155 English schools and colleges are registered with the board, compared with just 468 in Wales.The board had 600,000 GCSE entries this summer, 350,000 of which were by pupils in England. There are also a total of 190,000 entries for the WJEC's AS- and A-levels each ye... full article »

If you make more than one star you can string them together in a garland. Photograph: Red Ted Art Santa stars are a great craft for younger children, and are fun for older kids too. You can make just the one for a Christmas card, or lots and lots to create santa garlands.MaterialsRed card or paper, pink card or paper, cotton wool, black pen, glue, scissorsMethod1. Cut out a five-pointed star – you may either want to use a template or print five-pointed stars onto red paper for the children to cut out themselves2. Cut a pink semi circle for the face – glue on3. Glue on beard and santa bobble4. Draw on eyes and nos... full article »

In the OECD's latest survey, England ranked 28th for maths. Photograph: Jeffrey Coolidge/Getty Images If England were a pop group it would be Razorlight. If it were a football team it would be Leeds United.Our glory days are behind us - or at best, we're a snoozing giant. That's the message the coalition has drawn from international comparisons which show us "plummeting down" league tables for the reading, maths and science abilities of teenagers.Our blistering debut was the OECD survey of 2000, when we ranked 8th for maths, 7th for literacy and 4th for science in the thinktank's Programme for International Student A... full article »

Public sector workers march through London against public sector pension cuts in London Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA A renewed pay crackdown on public sector workers will have "negative" consequences for talks over pension reform, the head of the TUC has warned, as discussions between the government and trade union leaders resumed in the wake of Wednesday's mass strikes.Brendan Barber, the lead negotiator in talks with ministers, said the announcement of a further pay squeeze on public sector workers in the autumn statement had thrown up a new barrier to progress. "The landscape has been changed in a negative way by the... full article »

Saif al-Islam after his capture in Libya. Lord Woolf's inquiry is looking at the burgeoning commercial interests that lay behind Saif’s relationship with the LSE. Photograph: Reuters/Reuters The Foreign Office lobbied Oxford university to accept Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam as a student in the hope of encouraging a rapprochement with Libya, an inquiry has found.An investigation by Lord Woolf, a former lord chief justice, has underlined the support shown by the British government and UK firms for the dictator's son as companies scented opportunities to do business with Libya.The inquiry was set up to investig... full article »

Michael Portillo described the decision to turn his old school, Harrow County, into a comprehensive as 'vandalism'. Photograph: Avalon PR Grammar school nostalgics are having a moment. On a BBC documentary this month, Michael Portillo described the decision to turn his old school, Harrow County, into a comprehensive as "vandalism". A forthcoming book of grammar school memoirs, School Songs and Gymslips, includes a piece by the home secretary, Theresa May.Meanwhile, unless Labour persuades the Liberal Democrats to oppose changes to the admissions code, England's 164 state grammars will soon be free to expand at will.E... full article »

The education secretary, Michael Gove, is waiting for guidance from the Cabinet Office in the Freedom of Information row. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian The education secretary, Michael Gove, has revealed he has not yet complied with guidance from the information commissioner over the use of private emails.Gove told MPs he was awaiting fresh civil service advice before complying with the information commissioner, who warned last month that private emails discussing official business were subject to the Freedom of Information Act.The minister and his inner circle have been accused of using private email to... full article »

John Humphrys trailed off as he said a school's children were not 'smart, posh, upper class, whatever'. Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian "You've got a fairly low-ability intake. Your kids aren't all very smart, posh, upper-class, whatever." The way John Humphrys trailed off as he made this statement to a headmaster on the Today programme suggests that he knew it was coming out a bit wrong, but it was too late to change. He'd already said that brains and social status were the same thing.A shabby sort of equivalence to draw, but one that's in keeping with much of the discussion about vocational education.... full article »

Over one million young people are out of work. Photograph: John Sturrock/Alamy Youth unemployment, over a million now, is the most painful feature of the recession; a breach of the promise one generation makes to the next. But it's not new - unemployment among the young was rising even in the tail end of the boom years.There's a deeper change going on here. The brutal truth is that in the 21st century, Britain has no jobs for young people without qualifications.There's a real shortage of first jobs for young people with all levels of education. Only 6% of employers offer jobs to 16 year old school leavers and only a... full article »

'Education for the masses, not just the ruling classes': Goldsmiths students take over the council chambers in protest against tuition fees in November 2011. Photograph: Graeme Robertson 1.38pm: The official figures on university application figures for 2012, released by the official monitoring body, Ucas, show an overall year-on-year drop of 8.7%.Detail in the breakdown has been used to suggest that the fall is the latest example of the "squeezed middle" – and that applications from middle-class families have fallen the most.In an article headlined Middle class priced out of university by soaring tuition fees as a... full article »

Blanche Berryman belonged to the Communist party in the 1930s and she never lost her socialist convictions Blanche Berryman, who has died aged 91, was an extraordinarily gifted teacher who made history into everyone's best-loved subject at our stuffy grammar school, Tiffin in Surrey, in the 1950s and 1960s. Never boring, never condescending, sometimes attractively risque, she was the only teacher who kept perfect order in her classroom purely by her inspiration and personality, without the heavy weaponry of detention – a pointless punishment she openly derided. A sharp dresser, she marched click-heeled into the cla... full article »

After Michael Gove's announcements, the doors of debate have been flung wide open on how we build the future of computing in schools. Photograph: www.alamy.com My office at The Open University is just down the road from Bletchley Park, the war-time code-breaking centre which now houses the National Museum of Computing. Seventy years ago in this quiet countryside setting, the "father of modern computing" Alan Turing helped to crack the Enigma code and set in motion developments which have brought us the technology we use today.In the past few weeks, aided by The Guardian's Digital Literacy campaign, there has been inc... full article »

It may not be a cure-all for the challenges presented by rape cases, but training for judges represents a step forward for the judiciary. Photograph: Ian Waldie/Getty Alison Saunders, one of the country's leading prosecutors, has drawn attention to the "enduring myths" that surround rape victims – and in so doing questioned the performance of the criminal justice system in its prosecution of rape cases.One raised concern in particular addressed the attitude, pronouncements and decision-making of some trial judges. Special training for judges may not be a "cure all" for the challenges presented by rape cases, but it... full article »

Patrick Oakley donated his brain for dementia research. My friend Patrick Oakley, who has died aged 83, was interested in almost everything, from the collapse of the global financial system to what was under the next manhole cover.He was born in Hampstead, north London, and attended Frensham Heights, Surrey, a boarding school that provided a progressive education. His childhood was far from easy as his father left when Patrick was one and he was brought up by his mother on her own during the 1930s. As a young man, he registered as a conscientious objector; for him the word "conchie" was a badge of honour not a term o... full article »

Schools charge parents who can afford to pay for hot meals and receive money to make sure children from more deprived backgrounds receive a lunch. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian A primary school that featured on a celebrity chef's television programme about healthy eating is scrapping hot lunches for some pupils because it says they have become too expensive.Six other schools have told a newly created catering company set up by Devon county council and a private partner that they plan to make other arrangements.Mrs Ethelston's primary, which Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall visited in 2010 for his River Cottag... full article »

St Andrews University in Scotland, which received its highest ever number of applications – about 10 for every place. Photograph: David Cheskin/PA Scottish universities have seen a dip in the number of applicants from England and Northern Ireland, but a rise in applicants from other EU countries, who, like their Scottish counterparts, will not be charged tuition fees.Figures from Ucas show the total number of university applications from Scotland is down by 1.5%, the lowest figure of any part of the UK. The number of Scottish students hoping to study in Scotland is down by just 1.1%. Ministers and student leaders ... full article »

GEMS Education aims to compete with top independent schools such as Dulwich College. Photograph: Sophia Evans A for-profit company is setting up private schools that claim to offer the same quality education as top public schools but for half the price.GEMS Education, based in Dubai, intends to open six fee-paying day schools for boys and girls aged three to 18 in towns and cities across England over the next two years.The company plans to charge parents between ?8,000 and ?12,000 a year – about half or a third of the price of some of the country's leading public schools.Sending a non-boarding teenager to Millfiel... full article »

Few of the people going back to education do so to 'avoid the real world', as some critics claim. Photograph: Birkbeck University Figures released by Ucas show that there has been a 9.9% drop in the number of English students applying to university for the next academic year, in which tuition fees will rise from around ?3,000 a year to around ?9,000 a year. It's hardly surprising that so many people have taken a look at the amount of debt they might be liable for and decided that university isn't for them. But when you look closer at the figures you can see that the ages of those forgoing university are worryingly sk... full article »

The biological recording courses operated by Birmingham University have trained hundreds of ecologists who work for the UK’s most famous organisations. Photograph: Corbis The natural world is the litmus paper of the health of our environment. But the last course in the UK which teaches people how to identify plants and animals in the field, and so monitor their changes, is threatened with closure.The biological recording courses operated by Birmingham University have trained hundreds of ecologists who work for the UK's most famous organisations – the National Trust, the Wildlife Trusts, the Natural History Museum... full article »

'Employers could not care less about “points” and “equivalences”. They look at whether young people have got qualifications that they recognise and value.' Photograph: Nils Jorgensen/Rex Features Young people all over Europe face a daunting labour market, and school qualifications are critically important to their job prospects. An education system that ignores labour market realities is failing in its duty. In the review of vocational education that I carried out for the government last year, I concluded England was doing exactly that.Of course, no one set out to achieve anything so terrible. But we created ... full article »

The chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, told the Commons that he was not aware of any tax benefit made available when asked to sign off the arrangement. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury chief, has come under intense Labour pressure to say whether any minister had been aware they were signing off a tax avoiding scheme for Ed Lester, the head of the Students Loans Company (SLC).Alexander and the business department, responsible for higher education ended the arrangement on Wednesday, saying Lester would in future pay tax and national insurance on his ?182,0... full article »